The Truth in the Lie
by VanishRain
Summary: Standing before the rain drenched windowpane, Temperance Brennan now knew there was only one truth. A truth so radical it will change life as they know it. Prequel to Awake While Dreaming. COMPLETE.
1. Truth In The Ticket

Clenching the newly minted plane ticket, Brennan watched from afar as her partner laughed and smiled like he had not done in years. The way his body shook sent a shiver down her spine. Had she ever made him that happy? Sure, he had genuinely seemed happy around her but the way his eyes lit up, dancing against the windowpane, that… that is what she longed for. To be that woman, to be it for him.

_Knowing that I can't turn the rain into sun anymore.  
I've given you all that I am; now I stand here too scared to hold your hand._

But there she stood plane ticket in hand ready to put the longing aside but for what? To go back to feeling nothing after years of finally feeling alive? If she looked deep enough she would have known that was not the case but sometimes all it takes is a lie to make it through the day. _She didn't love him_. A lie she had been telling herself for years. He was the unobtainable man, the man who in her eyes was perfection but that perfection came at a cost. A lie.

And lie, she did. Causing her heart to shatter at the slightest touch. How could he not see what he had turned her into? Once a cold, rational being had filled with such warmth she burned those around her, including the only man she would ever love. The flickers he caused made her heart jump in expectation but the gaping wounds left in his wake, proof positive of the change in her, those would be a constant reminder of a man she would love for lifetimes to come. Loving from a distance, knowing the truth in the lie and the death at hand.

If that is what it took, she would be that woman. The woman who loved him with pure adoration but just wasn't cast from the same mold. She had put her all into a partnership with him, just to have it fall flat in her face. It might have been her fault for doubting him but doubts can only get you so far. She had waited patiently for the man she once knew to come back to her and soothe her wounds. To pacify years of doubt, to just be the man she had fallen for. But that man had all but died, the man before her was searching for a life she never thought possible, a love without her in it.

He had become her everything but as the weeks turned to months, her importance began to slowly slip. At first she watched with bated breath for each fling to end, to get her second chance at love. But when he picked woman after woman, she knew the truth. He was determined to love another. The shattered woman shook at the self fulfilled prophesy causing her flaws to shine brightly under the newly dawned sun.

For her mold had cracks barely discernable to the naked eye but she saw them as plain as day. They haunted her deeper than any murder ever could. Relentlessly she was told by all that said they knew her best that they would be perfect together but Temperance Brennan knew the truth. She was perfectly flawed. Right down to her fragile heart that shattered in his eyes by day and died nightly as she lived in fairytale of a happily ever after.

_You are everything to me  
This is why I have to leave_

Weighing all of her options, Brennan had to face the facts and the fact was, he would never be hers. Her reality was plain to see. The man of her dreams was sitting before her in their booth with another woman, laughing and the twinkle in his eyes… that twinkle was practically killing her.

_Under the ash and the lies  
Someone beautiful once here now dies  
And the tears burn my eyes_

And with that, she knew it was the end of something so beautiful and breathtaking she couldn't help but stand in awe of what she had created, what they had created. Maybe on another plane of existence things would have turned out differently but in her reality there was only one truth.

A truth buried so deeply in a lie, she wasn't sure when it had all happened. When it had all shifted and she had turned into the lie, consuming all she had left and leaving her with no other option then to leave. She had hoped there was another way but once you give your heart and soul to someone there is no turning back. The fact that he would eventually love another, shattered any hope she had of ever being whole once more. That dream died the day she had told him he wasn't worth the chance to prove her wrong.

Relinquishing control of her lie for just a brief second, Brennan inhaled deeply and shook.

"Know I will always love you." She whispered into the wind, letting love wash over for the last time. "Always, leaving you will be my only regret."

Turning back toward the cab, Brennan felt the tears finally knew everyone would be shocked by the resignation scrawled so neatly the night before. But a life without him was a life not worth living. So she had resigned herself doing right by society, in a distant, foreign land where no one would know how shattered she truly was.

_'He could not possibly love me.'_

For that lie was killing her because the truth was, she knew he did.

* * *

_Lyrics: Sleep Well, My Angel By We Are The Fallen_

_I know, I know super angsty but I assure you, without a doubt, if you were not too fond of the angst you will love __**Awake While Dreaming**__. What is that you ask? What this is a prequel of, silly. Without giving too much away I will say it will please the masses and is unlike what I have done before. So stay with me for this bumpy ride and you will be rewarded. Want the new story? Well, you know what to do.  
_


	2. Truth in the Envelope

Pushing the lone envelope around his desk, Booth could feel his chest constrict and his heart lunge out of his chest. He couldn't put his finger on it but when he went to his partner's apartment this morning and she wasn't there, he knew it was _something_. '_To Booth, the man I adore_' scrolled so delicately in penmanship he had learned to love. His eyes rolled over and over the lettering. For three hours he had been sitting at his desk unable to open the letter that he was sure would reveal the truth, a truth he would long since regret. A single ring sent him out of his revere and self loathing.

"Booth." He muttered, eyes never leaving the white object setting his heart afire.

With his finger pinching the bridge of his nose tightly, he tried to focus on the woman on the other end of the line but all he could think about was his partner and those damn blue eyes of hers. For the last week he had been unable to focus on anything except the new shade of blue her eyes had taken that night he confessed his deep devotion. He had seen fear, doubt and even rejection cascade down in an array of blues but the colour that feel before him that evening left him wondering exactly what he had done.

_Steal a kiss yet and call us friends  
Distance is the thief in which you conspire_

Those eyes spoke a wonder he had long since desired. The need twinkled so delicately then without a moment's notice it dissipated, receding into the depths of her soul. Every second he was with her, he had watched and waited for another chance to see that mysterious shade of blue. The elusive colour abated him at every breath, covered by the wall that snapped into place the second his lips left hers.

Sure, it had been rough since his impromptu confession but he had assured her they would stay together. It was only in a working environment but after having his heart shattered then stomped on that was the only piece he was willing to let her shatter once more.

Partners.

He had long since clung to the small hope that she would confess her devotion for him only to faultier daily. Every morning he waited with bated breath for those three small words that would send him out of the hellhole he had created but by night he was devastated with the realization of their new reality.

_You only stand to break my heart  
I can tell it by the way you runaway_

Angela's ramblings finally brought him out of his stupor with a long pause. She was talking about interviewing some new intern they had at the Jeffersonian… he thought but the next four words completely caught him off guard and caused him to reel back in horror.

"Booth…" She sighed, sure he had not received the news, "Brennan has resigned."

"She did what?" Booth gasped, willing the contents of his own envelope to be false. But plain as the morning sun draping down on the white rectangle, her words so delicately chosen. Gone.

"We all knew this was coming." Angela whispered, unsure to push the subject with a man capable of killing in countless ways.

"No... no we didn't.. I… we… she... oh fuck" He stuttered, unable to keep his voice from breaking.

"That is the thing Booth, there was never a we. Don't you see that it was killing her? The fact that she had to watch you go out with women who were not her and go home alone… it was destroying her inside."

And as the clouds cast down once again, he knew. He just knew… it was all his damn fault. All the signs were there but he was too caught up in self pity to notice she was suffering too. He had taken his anger and transformed it into a dating scene that would put a high school jock to shame. And what did she have? Loneliness. He left her with no other recourse then to leave the daily beating to her self-preservation.

_Time will tell or tear us apart_

_You're miles and miles and miles away  
Silence reveals where we really are_

With a grunt he dropped the phone and went after the envelope like a starving lion to pray. His eyes scanned the delicate piece of paper, looking for some sense of what had went wrong but all he could find was more questions. Questions he would now live with for the rest of his life. This was it, they both knew it. No forwarding address, no calls, not even a letter. She was severing life as she knew it. She was running from her heart laid scattered before him in blue and white.

Pulling out a piece of paper out of his desk with a sigh, Booth knew what he had to do. There was nothing left here for him anymore. The thought of another partner shook him to the core. There was no one that would be able to replace what he had, what he was crying out for. So as the clock slowly ticked away he began to write of joys and sorrow, gains and losses, of a life of service and respect. Leaving out the one reason his heart beat softly as his guilt riddled his body.

Her. She was his reason for all and for nothing.

If she could run so could he. Run so far from a lie that had both in its deadly grip, draining what little life was left in their souls.

For they both knew, this was love.

And love is eternal and debilitating.

So as Brennan boarded her plane to a far off land and Booth put his pen to the paper, they ran.

They left shattered hearts in their wake, unable to break the cycle of lies perpetuated by one single fact.

This was love. Real, honest love at its finest.

The single thing that shakes most to their core.

Love in it's perfectly flawed form.

* * *

Lyrics: The Runaways by Anberlin, they own the rights.


	3. Truth in the Inevitable

_Ten years later…_

Sometimes fate has a way of changing our hand. In the reshuffle of life we become our destiny, whether we play the cards we are dealt or made to fold. Without notice the thunder claps, the seas wean and we are left where we once began. A seismic snap, a temporal break, that is all it takes to lead us to who we were in a previous lifetime, who we, without faults, were meant to be. We can push or pull, breaking the cycle and sending any hope afire but in the end one thing is true.

In the end we will dream.

And in the dream, we will love.

That dream is the beginning.

The beginning of something beautiful that starts with a jump and a caress.

Waiting to board her plane was something Temperance Brennan hated with a passion. Without fail there was always someone who wanted an autograph, children screaming at the top of their lungs and so many pictures she thought she was going to go blind.

"Boarding for flight 482 to LaGuardia International …" _yes, oh god finally_ "will be delayed due to unforeseeable weather conditions. Once the problems are corrected we will have a better time table. Northwest thanks you for your patience." Boomed over the loudspeaker followed by a group groan.

"Shit." She muttered to herself, laughing at the irony that filled every second. For years she had been running from the only place she had ever called home but now she found herself stuck there for the foreseeable future. For years she had done everything in her power to stay away from the one reminder of the love she once had but now as the seconds slowly ticked by she found herself drawn to this place not out of a sense of belonging but a need to be touched in only a way he knew how. Her heart and soul longed for life, living dormant for so long… they longed, needed for just that single spark only true love could provide.

The light pinging of the golf ball sized hail sent Brennan out of her revere as she jumped, landing squarely into the arms of the man in front of her. It had been years since she had even let a man get within feet of her but within a matter of seconds she found herself in somehow familiar hands. Hands her body had long since craved. They flexed as her body jerked in response, seeming to be in sync as both taunted and teased each other without hesitation. Her eyes rolled closed on a sigh as the man dropped his hands as if they were on fire.

"Booth?" Her voice squeaked, trying to keep her body from shaking violently from the void he provided.

"Ma'am if you must talk…" The shadowy figure raked his eyes up and down her form, refusing to look at her face. "Dr. Brennan?" His eyes went wide at the curves he had memorized. Without permission his hand jerked forward but at the hitch in her voice he slipped it into his coat.

"Yes…" Her voice shook, "It seems my irrational fear of thunderstorms have caused my body to find its way to your arms." She tired to sound as clinical as she could but the tears rimming around her lids were speaking of a truth she could not deny.

Her eyes etched every unmistakable detail in her memory. He looked twenty years older and stress wore greatly over his now slender form. The lack of muscle definition was evident even to an untrained eye but Brennan had spent years with this man, she knew how close to death he really had become. It was all her fault. Her leaving had almost killed him and that guilt started to eat away at the walls preventing her from loving again.

"Well… I just thought since I have time and it seems you just arrived we could…" She nodded at the bags at his side, "unless you have a connecting flight… then I… well I will just…" She fumbled nervously, trying to get him to look into her eyes.

"Bones," He laughed then cringed, _Brennan, she wasn't his Bones anymore_, "Dr. Brennan, what are you trying to ask of me? And please, if you will no squint speak. Straight and direct, like you always liked it." He flinched as she placed her hand on his arm but he was unable to fight the smile across his lips even if he tried.

"I was wondering you if you wanted to… maybe… if we…"

"Dr. Brennan, please." He begged, "What is it you would like?"

"Um…" Her eyes dropped, "It seems I have become unable to articulate my desires." She mumbled, refusing to look up and show him the horrible mess she had become at his hands.

"So, Dr. Brennan what will it be?" Booth half heartedly smiled at the cute, blubbering mess she had become, "Got some time for an old friend and stale, cold food?"

Crinkling the ticket in her pocket, Brennan smiled.

"Oh, I have time for some..." Without hesitation her hand slipped in his. After all these years her body craved that simple touch, "pie."

"Pie?" His eyes sparkled, "You like pie?"

"Yeah." She blushed, "It seems over the years I have grown accustom to the sugary substance."

"So what are you in this airport for anyway?" He couldn't help but ask as he pulled her close, leading her down the cramp corridor.

"I just needed to find a way to get back home." She smiled, "It seems I have found it."

At the smile spreading across his weak features she couldn't help but return the smile as she gripped his hand tighter. _Home_. After years of fighting it, she had finally found the place she truly belonged.


End file.
